


Night at the Zoo

by ashtraythief



Series: zoo 'verse [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Fluff and Crack, Humor, M/M, Panda!Jensen - Freeform, Schmoop, Talking Animals, Tiger!Jared - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 03:21:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1330003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashtraythief/pseuds/ashtraythief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared is a lonely tiger at the zoo who just wants a friend to cuddle with. His quest seems hopeless until he meets panda Jensen</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For inspiration, I looked at the [panda cam](http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/panda-cam) at the San Diego Zoo and several of their videos. You should all go over there and flail over [babypanda cuteness](http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1774035460001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAGF4K-A~,pM27qCB38SFsJvHr8nV8kTsxdexLvoL3&bclid=1773463216001&bctid=2238475474001).
> 
> Obviously, this story is a very incorrect portrayal of animal life at a zoo.
> 
> Thanks to my awesome beta [](http://linvro21.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://linvro21.livejournal.com/)**linvro21** for making it pretty.
> 
> Also with wonderful, [super cute cuddling art](http://kinkajou.livejournal.com/19151.html) by the awesome [](http://kinkajou.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://kinkajou.livejournal.com/)**kinkajou**! Seriously, all the cute and cuddly! Go check it out and don't forget to leave her some love :)

 

 

Today is a sunny day. That’s good, because it means when Jared lounges around on his big rock, the sun shines warm on his white belly and heats up the smooth surface below him. It’s the best feeling in the world, almost like he’s being cuddled from both sides.

Being cuddled… now that’s actually the best feeling in the world. Jared remembers it from when he was just a little cub and his mom bathed him and he slept in furry heaps with his brother and sister. But when he grew up, they were split up and taken to different zoos. Ever since then, Jared has been alone in his enclosure.

It’s a nice one, as far as enclosures go. He’s got some dense jungle vegetation, big, high trees, and a large water basin he can swim in. All in all, not too bad. Just… lonely.

During the day, it’s okay, because that’s when the visitors come. Humans. They’re weird non-furry creatures who walk on two legs, talk all the time and take pictures. Jared knows he’s one of the more popular animals, and he makes sure to be out and about when the people are there, posing on his rock or taking a swim. The little human cubs especially love it when he takes a running start and jumps from his rock into the water. And they laugh when he shakes the droplets out of his fur which always makes him feel really good. Almost like they’re his friends, playing together and having fun. Except there is the big water-filled moat between them and a fence.

But when night falls, the zoo closes and all the animal keepers go home, it gets really fucking lonely.

Sometimes Chad keeps him company, but Chad is a finch and he usually sleeps at night. Besides, you can’t really cuddle with a bird the size of your paw.

 

One night, a giant storm hits. It’s so bad, Jared has to seek shelter in the deep underbrush in a corner of his enclosure which he knows was built as a safe haven for him, but never uses because then the people can’t see him. He could also go inside, but Jared doesn’t really like the stale and sticky air in the indoors part of his lodgings.

One of the trees in his enclosure is old and almost hollow and it doesn’t survive the storm. It just breaks in the middle and topples over, falling over his sunning rock and peeking out over the moat.

He goes to check it out when the rain lessens and huh, he’ll be able to jump even better from it. He slowly balances on the stem that surprisingly carries his weight, but when he’s at the edge he realises, it’s close enough to the fence. The broken off part is still connected to the stump, so ff Jared jumps, really jumps, he could leave his enclosure. And visit all the other animals he knows from Chad’s stories!

He carefully takes a few steps back, then a few forward with more momentum and jumps. The tree trunk wobbles worryingly, but it holds. Jared’s paws hit the railing of the fence, and for a precarious moment he hangs there, scrambling with his hind legs to find purchase in the fence to push him over before he - rather ungracefully - manages to roll himself over the fence.

For a moment, he just stands there in the mild night. Where should he go now? Where would the best cuddle partner be? Jared has no doubt he’ll be an excellent cuddle partner; he’s fairly big, his orange and black fur is really soft, and his tongue is just made for grooming. Really, who wouldn’t want to cuddle with a tiger?

With that reassuring thought in mind, he turns left. That’s where the other large animals are, and bigger is probably better for cuddling.

The first enclosure he peers into consists mostly of water with a stretch of sand and a house. Whoever lives there probably is inside. Jared could jump the fence easily, he’s quite the athlete he heard some humans say, but the other animal might be asleep. He knows that a lot of animals sleep during the night and he doesn’t want to be rude and wake anyone up. So Jared walks on.

The next enclosure is big as well, and sandy, but he can make out an animal at the far end. His eyes have no problem picking it out of the dark. He sees a plump body standing on four short legs and a bulky head with a horn. A rhinoceros. Jared knows this because a long time ago in the zoo where he grew up, one of his keepers used to take him for walks and show him the other animals. Misha had been nice like that.

Rhinoceroses are not furry though, and the horn looks a tad dangerous, so he decides to walk on. Impossibly tall creatures with long legs and longer necks are next, giraffes Jared thinks they’re called and while they have fur, their legs look spindly thin and hard. Moving on.

Jared wouldn’t have thought it would be so difficult to find a cuddle partner!

The next animals he encounters look promising. They look a little bit like the antelopes he once saw but they have black and white stripes. They do have thin legs, but round bellies and Jared thinks it could feel nice. There are several of them dozing, but when he comes closer they look at him in surprise.

Jared approaches the fence. “Hi,” he says, “I’m Jared. I got really lonely and I wanted to find friends to cuddle with.”

There is a moment of shocked silence, then the animals scream and break out in a run to the other edge of their area, bringing as much space between them as possible. Okay, so maybe not everyone is big on cuddling.

The next enclosure yields the same result. Jared introduces himself and the herd of antelopes runs screaming. Maybe all the ones with long legs are anti-cuddling? He should find an animal that looks different.

The path makes a turn and he sees another enclosure. It’s smaller, so the animals in it are probably smaller as well, but Jared can’t be picky now. The sun will rise soon and he just wants some cuddling! He’s been looking forward to it so much.

He sights the small animals then. They look more like him with their shorter legs and long tails, they even have stripes across their backs, but their snouts are pointy and they watch him warily, standing straight up when he nears the fence. Jared has no idea what they are.

“Hi, I’m Jared,” he says for the third time that night. “I’m looking for cuddle friends.”

Again there is the shocked silence, then one of the little animals hops forward.

“Yeah, right,” it squeaks out angrily. “Do you really think we fall for that Mister? Oh no, not us. We’re the smart ones.”

Jared is confused. “I don’t know what you mean,” he says, “do you not like cuddling?”

“Oh, we love to cuddle,” the little thing says and in the background a bunch of them huddle close together. Jared is elated, finally!

“We just don’t want to cuddle with your teeth!”

“My teeth?” These little animals are getting weirder and weirder. “I don’t need my teeth for cuddling.”

The animal snorts. “No, you just want to rip us apart, chew us up and then swallow us down.”

“What? You think I want to eat you? No, I would never do that!” Jared knows that technically his kind hunts other animals, but honestly that sounds totally gross, biting into fur and skin, and really why should he do that when he gets only top quality meat from the zoo keepers?.

“I have never eaten another animal, I only eat meat!”

“And what do you think that is?” the little thing asks.

“It’s a supermarket product.” Jared is rather proud he knows that. But he listens attentively to human conversations and he knows that you get meat at some big house called a supermarket.

Another little animal hops forwards then and whispers to the one talking to Jared. But Jared has good hearing, so he can hear what they say.

“Poor thing,” the new one says, “captivity made him go completely gaga. Let’s just back away before he comes in here. You never know with the crazy folks. Remember Mitch the gorilla?”

The other one nods and together they slowly back away.

“Alright. Nice tiger. Listen, meerkats and tigers can’t cuddle, actually tigers can’t cuddle at all, except with other tigers, so why don’t you go back to your own cage, hmm? I bet it’s nice in there.”

Jared’s heart clenches in his chest. They think he’s crazy! Because tigers can only cuddle with other tigers.

“But I’m the only tiger here!” Jared says desperately.

The second meerkat eyes him with pity. “I’m sorry buddy, but that’s how it works.”

Slowly Jared turns around and slumps back to his home. Will he really never be able to cuddle again?

He’s so distressed by the meerkats revelation, he hides the next day in the dense ground vegetation in the corner of his enclosure. He never does that and his caretakers are worried. When the zoo closes, for the first time in a long time, Jared goes back into the house. Usually he prefers to stay out in the enclosure, so he can chat with Chad if he stops by, but not tonight. He digs himself into the mulch in a corner of his inside dwelling and tries to sleep. At least in his dreams he’s not alone.

 

The next day, Chad stops by during the morning. He hops straight through the trees to where Jared is hiding out with a special bone Aldis gave him to cheer him up. Jared appreciates it, knows the human wants to help, but unless he’s got another tiger up his sleeve, there’s not much he can do.

“Dude, what’s up with your mopey self?” Chad chirps at him and starts grooming his feathers. Chad is always doing that, because he has to look good for the ladies, as he puts it.

“I’ll always be alone,” Jared says, finally voicing his fear.

“What?” Chad tilts his head, birdspeak for confusion.

“Two nights ago I left the enclosure-”

“Man, that’s awesome!”

“-and I looked for someone to cuddle with but no one wanted to and the meerkats said a tiger can only cuddle with another tiger, but I’m the only one here so I will be alone forever!” The last bit, Jared roars out in desperation. There is a sudden silence around them, then there are catcalls and applause and the regular zoo noises pick up again.

He can hear people calling his name, he knows the sign on his enclosure says “Bengal Tiger - Jared, born 2009 in San Diego”. Usually when he’s not close to the viewing area when they call he goes out to them, but not today. Today he’s miserable.

Chad still eyes him with his head cocked. It could also mean he’s curious, hungry or thinks Jared is stupid.

“Dude, you’re stupid. Also, I really need to get me some pieces of the humans’ fries.”

Sometimes it means several things.

“Seriously though,” Chad continues, “don’t listen to the meerkats, they’re self-righteous know-it-alls. Tigers can totally cuddle with other animals. You just need to find someone big who isn’t scared of your teeth.”

Jared looks at Chad skeptically. “Any ideas?”

“Hmm.” Chad tilts his head again, obviously he’s thinking now. “Let me do a recon flight and let’s see if we can’t find you a cuddle buddy. Can’t be too hard, can it?”

Hope starts to bloom in Jared’s chest. “Don’t forget to mention how soft my fur is!” he yells after Chad. That startles another cry from the crowd and Jared remembers his duties. He runs out of the underbrush and does a water bomb into his pond, getting the first row of spectators wet. They applaud happily and Jared goes to preen on his rock.

 

When Chad finally comes back at night, Jared can’t contain is nervous excitement. “And?” he asks, “who did you find?”

Chad sits down on his shoulder - a rather annoying habit, because Jared can’t really see him that well. Then he reaches out with his tiny wing and pats Jared’s ear.

“Sorry, big guy, I tried everything I could. But most animals are just too scared. The best I could do are the elephants. They might take you in.”

“That’s awesome!” Jared says, remembering giant gray creatures with big bellies.

Chad looks doubtful. “I don’t know man. They didn’t look all that cuddly to me.”

Jared scoffs. “That’s because you're a tiny birdie and they’d squish you. As soon as everyone’s gone, I’m gonna go visit them!”

 

Sometimes Jared really hates it when Chad is right. The elephants are nice enough, but really not that comfortable. Their skin is leathery with few very coarse hairs and their bellies don’t have the soft give Jared hoped for. After a long time of uncomfortable wiggling around and rearranging, Jared has to admit defeat. It’s not even fun to groom them, because the leathery skin just tastes weird and the elephants don’t seem to be fond of getting groomed anyway.

“Sorry kiddo,” the leader of the little herd, Mama Sam, says to him. “But I’m sure you’ll find someone. How about another one of the cats? I know you’re the only tiger, but there's a very nice panther lady just on the other side of your enclosure. I remember when she was just a tiny little cub, cute as a button. Genevieve is her name. I’m sure you’ll two make a handsome fit.”

Jared doesn’t know what looks have to do with cuddling, and the way Sam says it, seems like she’s saying something more, but Jared is tired and disappointed and the sun will rise soon.

“You’re a good boy, Jared, you can come visit Mama Sam anytime, you hear?”

Jared gratefully butts his head against her knee and ambles back to his home. He’ll just have to try again. And who knows, maybe this Genevieve will be cuddlesome.

 

The next night, Jared breaks out again - the tree stump wobbles more and more, he doesn’t know how long it will hold. Maybe he should get a plank or a ladder from somewhere and hide it in the plants in his enclosure, just for back-up.

He walks around and then enters the big cat house, where all the outdoor enclosures come together and have indoor accommodations side by side. There’s a grumpy old leopard Jared has no desire talking to and a bunch of lions. They’re snobbish elitist assholes though, the guy does nothing but shake his mane at Jared. But at the end of the row, there’s the glass window labeled ‘Genevieve’.

Jared spots her lying in the corner. She’s a good bit smaller than he is - sadly - and her fur his very dark. She looks up when he approaches and gracefully gets to her feet.

“Hey there, handsome. I heard you were roaming the zoo at night, nice to come visit me.”

“How did you know?” Jared asks surprised.

She coyly sits down. “I have my sources.”

“Chad?”

Genevieve looks confused. “What’s a Chad?”

“Oh, never mind. Can I come inside?”

Genevieve smiles sadly. “I wish. I don’t think so. My doors are operated with one of these small key thingies, and I don’t know where they are.”

“Oh.” Jared slumps. “Maybe I could go outside and jump over your fence? I’m a really good jumper.”

“I’m sure you are,” Genevieve purrs out. “But I have a full grid fence. I’m quite the climber myself, you know.”

“Oh,” Jared says again and dejectedly sits down. “I really wanted to cuddle with you.”

Genevieve laughs, a deep throaty sound. “Of course you did, big boy. You sure that’s what the kids call it these days though?”

“What else would they call it?” Jared asks confusedly.

“How about taking a tumble in the hay?” Genevieve asks, licking her snout.

“Hay?” Jared looks around, there is no hay anywhere to be seen.

“Yeah. You know, getting some tail, tumbling between the sheets?”

Genevieve keeps making less and less sense. Maybe she’s the one going crazy in captivity?

“Mating, Jared!” she finally says, exasperated.

“Huh.” Mating. That… hasn’t even crossed his mind. He looks at Genevieve. He knows about mating of course, it’s how cubs are made and sometimes he has this vague idea of something… but nope, not really what he wants.

“No,” he tells her, “I really just want to cuddle.”

Genevieve sits up straight. “Now that’s just weird. You’re weird.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told,” Jared mutters and turns around to leave.

“Crazy guy,” Genevieve says behind him. “Dashing stripes though. Come back if you change your mind, okay?”

Jared leaves, dashing stripes included. He steps out into the cool night air and takes a deep breath. He will not give up. He should visit Mama Sam again, maybe she’s got another idea.

 

“Hmm. Hmmm-hmmm hmm.” Mama Sam has been making that sound for quite a while, but Jared waits patiently. It’s not like he’s got anything better to do.

“The apes maybe?” Mama Sam finally says, but there’s doubt in her voice. “They’re a bit… crass at times, but they’re big and hairy.”

Jared nods. “I’ll try. Where do I find them?”

Mama Sam tells him where to find the House of Apes and wishes him luck. It’s a long trek to the apes, passing all kind of four legged herbivores who hide when he comes close and an enclosure with wolves who growl at him. Jared is so surprised that he instinctually growls back. The wolves yip and draw back and Jared is slightly smug. His growl is way better than theirs, no wonder he’s one of the favorite animals.

He finally reaches the House of Apes, but after carefully pushing the door open and taking a whiff, he immediately backs out again. Jared might want to cuddle, but he can’t deal with that stench.

Once again disappointed, he trots on. He comes past a wide terrain with a fence he could definitely climb. He can see the big animals looming behind, their long hairs and the curved horns. He draws a deep breath, and yep, undoubtedly muskox. You smell them once, you’ll never forget. No thanks.

 

Jared is ready to give up and go home. He must’ve walked through the whole zoo by now. He looks up to the sky, stars shimmering dimly and he wants to roar his sadness out to the heavens when he suddenly hears it.

It’s a low crunching sound, coming from somewhere far down the right. Someone is awake and eating some rather hard plant by the sounds of it. Curiously, Jared stalks forward.

He rounds another corner and sees a big half-circle enclosure set against a high stone ridge. There is a trench there, trees, stones and… Wow.

Jared has never seen an animal like this before and just… _wow_. He has stumbled upon black and white perfection.

The stranger raises his head and more white fur appears, with adorable black markings around his eyes and the cutest little black ears. He's munching on something, but when he spots Jared, he quickly hides whatever was in his paws behind his back.

“Hi,” Jared says spellbound. “I'm Jared. Can I come in?”

The stranger looks startled, but more surprised than scared. “What? Why?”

“Erm well, I want to cuddle?” Jared asks and for the first time he feels self-conscious. He doesn’t want the beautiful stranger to turn him away too, or, even worse, think he’s crazy.

“Is that a euphemism for eating?” the stranger asks.

Now it's Jared's turn to be confused. He isn’t sure what that long word means, but he almost expects the eating question by now.

“No. I don’t want to eat you, promise. I just want someone to cuddle with. And you look really soft and cushiony.”

The other one looks to the ground, rubbing his big belly. “I know,” he mumbles, but he doesn't sound happy. “One of the ‘biggest’ attractions in the zoo.” He raises his pretty paws and moves his thin claws up and down.

Jared nods, confused why he looks sad. “Well, I think the elephants are much bigger, but yeah, definitely very cuddly.”

The pretty stranger still doesn't look at him.

“Did I say something wrong?” Jared asks carefully.

Now big green eyes glinting in the dark fur look up to meet him. “You don't think it's bad?”

“That what’s bad?” Jared asks confused.

“That, well I mean, that I'm fat?”

“What?” Jared is furious. He knows that being fat is something that's bad by human standards, although he never understood why exactly. Humans are rather weird. And that someone could say something so terrible to such a beautiful creature... Jared roars with the outrage of it.

This causes some startled yelps from nearby enclosures, but he ignores them.

“How dare they say something like that to you? You're round and cuddly and beautiful!”

“Oh.” The stranger looks down on his paws, folded in his lap and Jared just wants go over there, curl up between his legs and groom his big belly.

“So,” Jared asks after a short silence, “can I come in?”

“Oh. Yes. If you want. I'm Jensen by the way.”

Jared takes a few steps back to jump over the fence and the ditch. It’s not a problem. Jensen looks rather admiringly at him. “Wow,” he says, “you're really agile.”

Jared can't help but preen before he finally approaches his new friend.

“So,” he asks after shifting on his paws for a ridiculous while, “cuddling?”

Jensen looks still a bit hesitant but he nods, so Jared decides to just take the plunge, go over there and lay himself into Jensen's lap. It’s heavenly.

Jensen is leaning back against a big tree and Jared can cushion his head on his belly, the best pillow in the world, arrange his body between Jensen's legs, and everywhere their fur meets, it’s awesome. Jensen is warm and alive and he smells of a very distinctive plant that Jared doesn't know, but likes.

When Jensen puts a paw on his back and pats him softly, Jared feels himself start to purr. He's never done that before, and he's heard a debate once whether big cats can purr or not between two zoo keepers.

Aldis had said tigers couldn't purr, but Jared guesses that was just because they'd never cuddled with a....

“Hey,” he asks, “what are you exactly?”

“I’m a panda. Well, giant panda.” Jensen says, sounding a bit embarrassed at the second admission.

Jared just rubs his head against his belly. “That’s a good name. Never heard of it before though.”

Jensen hums in agreement. “There aren’t many of us. And I’m from China.”

“Wow,” Jared says. “I'm just from San Diego.”

 

Sunrise comes far too quickly for Jared’s taste. He knows that either Aldis or Katie will show up soon to feed him and check on him, and he has to be in his enclosure or all hell will break loose. He remembers when in his old zoo an orangutan had broken free, sending the whole staff into a panic. There’s no telling what they would do if a tiger broke out.

“I have to go back,” he tells Jensen regretfully, but he doesn’t move. The panda’s fur isn’t as soft as Jared’s, but it’s very thick and dense, making an excellent cushion.

“Hmm?” Jensen grumbles sleepily.

“Did you fall asleep?” Jared asks. They’d talked for a while, but then they’d gone quiet and just enjoyed each others company in silence. Or so Jared had assumed.

“I must have,” Jensen says and he sounds surprised. “Huh. Normally I don’t sleep that well. And then I stress eat and look what happens.” He awkwardly points at the most beautiful white belly in zoo history, and Jared can’t keep himself from licking it. He looks down at his paws then, because that’s a rather intimate thing to do to someone you just met.

Jensen seems startled as well, so Jared backs away. “This was really nice,” he says awkwardly.

Jensen nods.

“Maybe I could come back some time?”

“I’d like that,” the panda says softly.

Jared jumps back out of the enclosure and looks back over his shoulder again, at his new friend with the nice white belly and the black legs and ears. Jared sighs.

 

“I found the perfect cuddle partner!” he tells Chad the next day when the finch plops down on his head while Jared is sunning.

“Yeah, I heard you had a hot date with that panther lady. Nice, man!” Chad whips his head back and forward in approval.

“What? No! She wanted to _mate_.”

“Well, duh.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “I just want someone to cuddle with.”

Chad looks at him in horror. “But how can you turn down mating in favor of cuddling? Mating is _awesome_!”

“Because cuddling is great. It’s the best thing in the world. And cuddling with Jensen is even better! He’s so cushiony and soft and he smells really nice…”

“Whoa, whoa whoa!” Chad exclaims, flying down from Jared’s head and hopping up and down in front of him.

Jared’s aware of the people standing on the other side of the fence, screaming and taking more pictures. They always do that when Chad is around - although Jared has no idea what’s so special about a little bird - and he ignores them.

“You got into the pants of our newest foreign import? Nice, man. I heard he was a bit standoffish, but you did it, huh?”

“Pants? What pants?” Jared asks, utterly confused. “And Jensen isn’t standoffish, he’s just a bit shy. We had a really great time together.”

Chad stares at him. And keeps staring. Finally he shakes his head. “Jay, man, you’re my best friend, and you’re awesome, but there’s something wired the wrong way in that big head of yours. Can't you hear yourself talk? ‘We had a great time together. He smells really nice.’”

“So?”

“So?” Chad throws his wings out in frustration. “You’ll go back to visit him I assume.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jared says and he still doesn’t get it.

Chad shakes his head again. “I need to talk to Mama Sam about this, ‘cause you my friend, are heading for interspecies disaster.”

Jared stares dumbfounded after Chad flying off. What the hell was that about?

 

He can’t wait for everyone to leave and see Jensen again. As soon as it’s safe, he leaves his enclosure - and yep, he’ll definitely have to look for a new tree-bridge - and heads straight for Jensen. He’s eating and like the last time, he hastily puts the plant away.

“So what do you eat?” Jared asks as soon as he’s cuddled himself into Jensen.

“Bamboo mostly,” Jensen says.

“Can I try?”

Jensen chuffs out a laugh but he gives Jared a stem anyway. Jared carefully chews on it, and it’s not too bad. It’s very fibre-y and stringy and the taste is rather intense, but it’s something he already associates with Jensen.

“The consistency is actually really good for teeth cleaning,” Jared says and wriggles the strand of plant in behind his long canines.

Jensen really laughs this time, whole body vibrating with it. Jared makes a content sound and closes his eyes.

“I don’t mind if you eat while I’m here,” he tells the panda.

There’s a moment of silence, then the crunching sound of Jensen chewing starts again. Jared smiles and starts petting Jensen’s belly. He’ll groom him some more later, right now he just wants to relax into Jensen’s thick and fluffy fur.

Morning again comes too quickly and Jared needs to leave earlier, so he can carry a giant wood log he finds in an enclosure deserted upon his approach and drag it back to his own.

He calls a thanks into the direction of the house where the animals are probably hiding and an incredulous and slightly shaky ‘you’re welcome’ answers him. It’s a bit of a hassle getting the tree log into his enclosure and hiding it, but it works. Jared is tired, but extra nice to the visitors the next day, prancing around and playing with the old tree that used to be his bridge to freedom. The people love it and stay even longer than usual.

 

Before meeting Jensen, the time spent entertaining the visitors used to be Jared’s favorite. Now, it’s the nights spent with Jensen. He still enjoys showing off for the people, but there’s nothing better than curling up in, or around, or on Jensen. The panda is quite limber, there are a lot of possibilities how they can intertwine their limbs so that there’s only one heap of striped fur left. Jensen scritches him with his thin claws and Jared grooms him with his scratchy tongue. It’s perfect.

Jensen sleeps about half the night, but the rest of the time they talk. They talk about life in the zoo, where they’re from, the funny things the people do to get their attention. They compare their keepers and their relationships to other animals. Jared even invites Chad to meet Jensen, and Jensen introduces Jared to the three mice Danneel, Tom and Mike living in a little hole in the stone wall. They used to hide when Jared came around, but now they trust him. Mike is the bravest - or maybe the craziest - so he even dares to climb into Jared’s open jaws when he offers it as sign of proof for his good will. And yeah, Jared stands by his opinion: fur is nice to groom, but not to chew on.

So for the first time ever, Jared’s life is completely and utterly perfect. Of course, it can’t last.

 

Over the next few days, Jensen has becoming slightly fidgety. He still cuddles close, but he initiates less of the contact, and he sometimes starts stuttering and looking away or glare angrily at his belly.

Jared can sense the stress coming off of Jensen in waves, and after an especially busy day - some kind of weird human thing called ‘holiday’ - he pins Jensen to the ground.

“Okay, what’s going on with you?” he demands. “You’ve been weird for a while now, and you get all evasive whenever I ask and you eat less… Did someone say something mean?”

Sometimes, people will say something like ‘look at that big panda’, or ‘look at him bumbling around’ and it always makes Jensen really sad.

Now Jensen looks more than sad though, he looks heart-wrenchingly desperate.

“I, it’s not, I mean, you are-” Jensen breaks off in frustration.

“Jen, come on, you can tell me. I’m your friend.” Over the last few weeks, Jared has felt this weird twinge whenever he thinks of Jensen as his friend, but he doesn’t really understand what it means.

“That’s exactly the problem,” Jensen exclaims in frustration and tries to get up and away from Jared. Oh no.

Jared pins him down again. “Don’t you want to be friends anymore?” he asks, anxiousness closing up his throat.

“No.” Jensen says, and Jared’s heart plummets into unknown depths. “No, I don’t want to be friends.”

Jared draws back and sits down on his hindlegs, curls his tail around him for comfort and looks pleadingly at Jensen. “But why? What have I done? I thought our cuddling was awesome, and I could never talk this well with anyone.”

Jensen makes a sound that’s way too sad for a laugh. “Yeah, we’re great together. Just… not great enough.”

“I don’t get it,” Jared says, trying desperately to understand what Jensen is telling him. It’s right there, staring him in the face but he can’t make sense of it. He just knows that there’s this giant pit in his stomach, growing with every second. Jensen cannot leave him, he just can’t, Jared can’t live without him.

Jensen looks at Jared sadly, and the black rings around his eyes that usually crinkle with his laughter make his face even sadder now. “Jared, being friends is not enough for me. I fell for you, you big stupid cat and I-”

Jared tackles Jensen and they fall down to the ground. Jared plasters his whole body against the panda and licks his face. He can’t understand how he hasn’t realized this sooner, how he needed Jensen to tell him, but of course they are in love, of course they are mates.

Jensen is perfect, they are perfect for each other.

Jared continues to lick and kiss Jensen when he realizes he’s getting pushed away. Oh. Apparently Jensen doesn’t understand what Jared is saying.

“Jen,” he says, slightly breathless, giant grin on his face. “I love you. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you and I was too stupid to realize it because I was so focused on the cuddling and then so happy I had a friend, and I don’t know how I didn’t know, but of course I love you too!”

Jensen stares incredulously. “But look at me. And then look at you.”

Jared takes a deep breath not to roar with fury. Stupid humans with stupid human values.

“When I look at you, I see black and white perfection. I see the kindest and nicest creature on earth. I see someone funny and incredibly smart and yes, soft and fluffy and cuddly, and just fucking perfect.”

Jensen still eyes him doubtfully. “Wouldn't you rather have a nice tigress? Or tiger?”

“No,” Jared says decidedly. “My heart will only ever belong to you.” And he knows it’s true.

Jensen still stares for a moment, then his arms come around Jared and he almost squishes him in a bone crushing hug. Jared can’t really breathe, but they still stay like that until the sun comes up.

Jared dances home to his enclosure, feeling like he’s walking on clouds. The next morning disaster hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

“What the fuck is that?” Aldis yells.  
  
Jared is inside, while his keepers clean his outside enclosure. He goes to the slide door to hear better. Aldis sounds rather upset.  
  
“That… I think that came from the tapir enclosure,” Katie says. “How the hell did it get into Jared’s cage?”  
  
“No idea. And it’s pretty long and sturdy, you can’t carry that without anyone noticing.”  
  
There’s a moment of silence that worries Jared.  
  
“You know,” Aldis starts, then he breaks off. “No. No, this is crazy.”  
  
“What?” Katie asks.  
  
“It’s just… You know Felicia, the panda keeper, she told me the other day that she thought she found tiger fur in Jensen’s enclosure. Which is ridiculous of course. But then Jared had that huge tree stump hanging over the water, but we didn’t do anything about it because the jump would’ve been almost impossible and he never tried to get out, but now there’s this… I mean this is a _plank_ …”  
  
There’s silence, then Katie laughs. “Oh, you almost got me. Jeez, Jared sneaking out at night, going to visit the panda. Yeah, sure.” She laughs again and then there are more sounds of them cleaning.  
  
“Still,” Aldis says, “we should remove it. You know that Jared is way smarter than any tiger should be.”  
  
“Okay,” Katie says, sounding very skeptic. “If you want. I still don’t think...”  
  
“Just humor me, please,” Aldis interrupts her.  
  
No no no, Jared thinks, they can’t do that. He roars loudly, and he can feel the shocked silence from the two humans.  
  
“As if he heard us,” Aldis mumbles almost inaudible and Katie laughs, but she sounds nervous.  
  
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she says, “let’s just get this thing out of here. Not that the tapirs will want it back the way it’ll stink of tiger now.”  
  
When Jared is allowed to go back into his enclosure half an hour later, the plank is gone. Jared’s bridge to Jensen is gone. He screams until his throat is raw, and he hopes Jensen can hear his desperation.  
  
Chad arrives sometime during Jared’s mourning, and perches on a branch until Jared slumps exhausted down to the ground.  
  
“Something you wanna tell me?” he asks.  
  
“Jensen loves me,” Jared says.  
  
“Well duh. Even the naked mole rats can see that.” Chad eyes him critically. “But that’s a good thing.”  
  
Jared nods. “Except how Aldis and Katie found the plank I used to get out of here, and took it away. I’m stuck in here again.”  
  
Chad is silent, then he flutters over and awkwardly pats Jared’s head. “I’ll let Jensen know,” he says softly. “And then I’ll go visit Mama Sam and we’ll find a solution for you two crazy kids, okay?”  
  
Jared nods, trying to be hopeful. He just has to see Jensen again!  
  
  
Chad comes back hours later.  
  
“Jensen says he’ll miss you. And a whole lot of other cheesy stuff, but you get the gist,” Chad informs him. “Mama Sam says she’ll think about it. She wants to talk to the giraffes and for some reason the turtles.”  
  
Jared has no idea what that will accomplish, but it’s not like he can do anything himself.  
  
The next two days are rather miserable, even though he tries to keep his game face on for the kids. Apparently, school started again and many groups of human cubs come past Jared’s enclosure. He can’t let them down, even though he misses Jensen so much it almost physically hurts.  
  
Then, when it’s dark, there’s a commotion outside. Jared perches on his stone and finally he can make out a row of turtles coming closer, balancing a giant tree on their backs. They’re the big turtles, and Chad and a few of his bigger friends flutter around them, making sure the log doesn’t slip from their backs.  
  
“Wow,” Jared says.  
  
Chad flies over to him.  
  
“Apparently the turtles are so slow and move so little, no one has bothered with their fence in years. Wasn’t hard to break them out and Jim, the old elephant, donated the tree. Just ripped it out with his trunk, was quite impressive.”  
  
“Thank you,” Jared says and means it. “But how will we get that inside?”  
  
Chad clicks his beak. “The mice stole a harness.”  
  
On cue, Mike, Danneel and Tom climb the fence in front of Jared’s enclosure. They wave at Jared and then with the help of the birds, they maneuver a long leather strap inside Jared’s enclosure. It drops into the water.  
  
“The other end is attached to the log,” Danneel squeaks. “Now you just have to pull.”  
  
Jared jumps into the water immediately and goes diving for the leather band. It’s not easy pulling back in the water, his hind legs scrabbling along the ground until he finally gets enough leverage to really pull. It’s a tedious and lengthy process, he slips several times and it doesn’t help that the mice and the birds all call out contradicting and rather unhelpful tips. In the end, it’s the turtles who make the difference, with their giant shells they push at the far end of the log and help push it upright so Jared can pull it over the fence.  
  
With a giant splash the log lands in the water. It’s long enough to prop it up against a protrusion on the bottom of the moat and lean it against the wall of the ditch. Jared carefully climbs his makeshift ladder, and then under the applause of the other animals, he jumps up the fence. He almost falls over it, he has that much momentum. He pauses briefly to thank everyone.  
  
The turtles blink at him with their old eyes in their wrinkled faces.  
  
“Go,” the largest one says. “Love like that, you only find once in your live.” He slowly rubs his head against the other turtle. “We should know.”  
  
Jared nods, bumps his head against their shell and says, “I’m in your debt. If there is ever anything I can do for you…”  
  
The turtles smile. “Just go.”  
  
And Jared bounds through the zoo. All along the fences the animals have gathered. Jared knew Jensen's and his story made the rounds, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it, hadn’t known what the other animals thought about it. Now he runs along to their chitters and roars, encouraging and congratulating sounds coming from every direction, and together with them he bellows his happiness up to the sky.  
  
He doesn’t slow down when he reaches Jensen’s home, just jumps the fence and runs straight for a lump of black and white fur curled up in the hollow stump of a tree.  
  
“Jared? Wha-”  
  
Jensen doesn't get further, because Jared lands on him with a jump, pushing the air from his lungs in a huff. Jared burrows himself into Jensen's warm softness and hugs him with his front paws as best as he can.  
  
“I never want to do be apart from you ever again.”  
  
Jensen hugs him tight and noses at Jared’s head. “Me neither. I couldn’t even sleep.”  
  
“Neither could I,” Jared admits.  
  
For the rest of the night they don’t move, they just lie tangled up in the small space of the tree trunk. It’s squishy and crowded and perfect.  
  
The next morning Jared has to run to make it back and hide the ladder under water. Aldis eyes him suspiciously, but apparently decides a tiger breaking out to go visit a panda is too crazy to say out loud. Jared breathes a sigh of relief.  
  
  
The next day, it’s the weekend, so a lot of families with their little kids come to the zoo. Jared puts on his best prancing and swimming behavior. One of the more adventurous kids climbs on the fence and tries to reach Jared. It’s way too far of course, but the kid still tries. An older boy is standing behind her, probably her big brother. He lifts her up so she can sit on the outer fence of the two separating the walkway from the water-filled ditch.  
  
“Just be careful Lisa, or you’ll fall into the tiger pond.”  
  
The little girl giggles. “But that’s okay. Tigers are nice and cuddly.”  
  
Jared wants to nod in agreement.  
  
The boy snorts. “Lisa, that guy will eat you alive. I mean look at those teeth!”  
  
Lisa shakes her head. “No. He’s a Tigger, he’ll be my friend.” And then she scrambles out of her brother’s hold and jumps off the fence. She climbs up the second banister, balances for a precarious moment, a woman and a man call out in unison and then the little girl jumps. With a giant splash she lands in the water.  
  
“Lisa!” several people shout and the little girl splashes in the water.  
  
“Don’t worry, mommy, I can swim,” she yells up, but she has difficulties in the water. “And I wanna play with Tigger.”  
  
The way she’s floundering, she’ll drown before they can play. Jared plunges into the water just when she goes under and dives for her. He gets his teeth around the back of her pants and drags her out of the water. Lisa is wiggling, and spluttering water, but she’s laughing and hugging him. It’s actually quite nice to get cuddled by a human, Jared should have tried to cuddle with them way earlier. Not that they’re as nice as Jensen of course, but still.  
  
The humans outside the enclosure yell frantically for help and someone to come, but really, Jared has the situation under control. Lisa is on dry land and happily trying to climb Jared. He rolls around, pets her and Lisa laughs a lot, trying to tickle him with her little hands.  
  
Suddenly, the doors to his enclosure open and Mr. Morgan comes in. He’s the man in charge of all the animals at the zoo and he’s pointing a giant gun at Jared.  
  
Jared freezes while Lisa is tugging on his ear. Guns are not good. Every place has their horror stories, and in the zoo, they always involve a gun.  
  
“Lisa,” Mr. Morgan calls, “slowly come to me.”  
  
The little girl looks over at Mr. Morgan and shakes her head. “No, I wanna play with Tigger.”  
  
It has gone dead quiet now around the enclosure, so Lisa’s mother is easily heard.  
  
“Lisa, baby please, listen to that man. You have to go to him, real slow, okay baby?”  
  
Jared looks over and sees a man and a woman, obviously Lisa’s parents, standing at the fence. They look really worried and are crying. Oh. Suddenly he gets it. They think Jared will eat her. As if he would ever do something like that! But that also explains why Mr. Morgan is pointing a gun at him.  
  
Slowly Jared gets up. Mr. Morgan adjusts the gun. Jared can see that he doesn't want to hurt him. Mr. Morgan tends to walk through the zoo outside of visiting hours and talk to the animals, and he’s a nice guy. But he’s clearly worried for the little girl.  
  
Jared carefully steps back and pushes Lisa away with his paw, towards Mr. Morgan. Aldis has appeared behind him, whispering to Mr. Morgan.  
  
“Please tell me that’s tranqs in there.”  
  
Mr. Morgan almost imperceptibly shakes his head. “It’s a little girl’s life, Aldis, I can’t risk the time it takes for the tranqs to work.”  
  
“He won’t hurt her,” Aldis says.  
  
Jared pushes Lisa back again but she keeps stumbling back to him on her shorts legs, obviously thinking this is a game.  
  
Her parents call for her again and again, but Lisa doesn’t listen. Jared huffs frustratedly and grabs her by the belt of her pants again. The people scream and Lisa laughs.  
  
Jared carries her over to Mr. Morgan who raises his gun again, but Aldis has a hand on his arm.  
  
“Look, he’s bringing her to us.”  
  
Aldis and Mr. Morgan are frozen as Jared drops Lisa onto the ground a couple of feet from them. He gives the girl one last lick on her cheeks and then he steps back.  
  
Mr. Morgan carefully steps forward, gun still raised and picks the little girl up. Then he and Aldis back away and out of the enclosure.  
  
Lisa waves and Jared raises a paw to wave back. He doesn’t miss how Aldis shakes his head incredulously, and he wants to roll his eyes. When will the humans ever learn that animals are way smarter than they give them credit for?  
  
  
Two days later, a crew of workers arrives and builds a new fence. Mr. Morgan oversees it personally. Jared is kept inside and he strains to hear what’s going on out there, tries to make out voices through the hammering and the whirring and the screeching. They work the whole day and when they open Jared’s door late in the evening - he’s been agitatedly stalking his indoor home all day, and Aldis and Katie know he prefers to be outside - he freezes in horror.  
  
Between the wall of the ditch and the old fence is a new one. It’s a thin mesh grid, as high as a tall human. There is no way that Jared can jump that, no matter what kind of log he puts in the water. He’s trapped.  
  
Mr. Morgan, Aldis, Katie and another man Katie called ‘lawyer’ when she told Aldis about him in a hushed voice, come around the enclosure and inspect the fence from the outside.  
  
“We never thought we had to put up a fence like this, because the other one has always been completely adequate and we didn’t want to interrupt the viewing pleasure.”  
  
“Well,” the lawyer scowls, “look where that got you. You’re lucky the parents aren’t suing you. And the new fence is so thin, you can still see excellently. Hello tiger.”  
  
The last bit is addressed to him and the lawyer gives him a sleazy smile and waves. Jared bares his teeth and roars. He usually doesn’t like to scare people, but he can’t help being satisfied when the guy jumps back with a squeak.  
  
He leaves shortly after, accompanied by Mr. Morgan and Katie, only Aldis remains, leaning against the fence.  
  
“What’s going on with you buddy? I’ve never seen you act like that.”  
  
Jared sits down and looks at his paws. He doesn’t want to be angry and scare people, but they took his freedom away. They took Jensen away. When he looks up, Aldis is still there, and for the longest time they just stare at each other until Aldis sighs and shakes his head.  
  
“Man, either I’m going crazy or you are.” With that he turns around and leaves.  
  
Jared goes deep into his little jungle, curling up under a big shrub. When morning comes and the visitors call, he stays hidden.  
  
  
Chad visits him every day and so do the mice, bringing him little messages from Jensen. They’re the highlight of Jared’s day and he tries to stay chipper in the mice’s company - for Jensen. But his heart is heavy. He can’t find pleasure in anything anymore, not in feeding or swimming, not in performing for the crowd. In fact, for the first time in his life, he comes to resent them. If it hadn’t been for the little girl and her brother, they may have never built this new fence. Jared is ashamed of the way he’s feeling, he knows the little girl didn’t know, but still. He can’t go out there anymore.  
  
Aldis and Katie try to draw him out with new toys and special ice-meat cakes he usually loves so much, but without Jensen, they all taste like nothing.  
  
It’s Friday and Jared is indoors - he started spending the nights in here, unable to hear all the animals out there who suddenly wanted to talk to him over three fences, comforting him in his heartbreak. Aldis and Katie are inside and for the first time since Jared was brought here, Mrs. Huffman is standing outside his cage. The director of the zoo usually doesn’t bother visiting the animals unless she’s showing some important people around.  
  
“This has to stop. Before the weekend! The video has over four million views, everybody wants to see the tiger who saved a little girl’s life. Jared can’t be in hiding when we have more visitors than ever!”  
  
Katie sighs. “Look, we don’t know what’s going on with him. He’s just… mopey. We tried everything, but short of dragging him out there on a leash, there’s nothing we can do.”  
  
“Can’t you cut back some of the plants?” Mrs. Huffman asks.  
  
There’s a brief silence.  
  
“No,” Aldis says and his voice is hard. “Every animal needs a place they can escape to when the visitors get too much or they want to be alone. Taking that away would be cruel. I’m sorry if Jared is interfering with your promotion plans, but we won’t force him out there.”  
  
Mrs. Huffman huffs. “Well, you’d better come up with another solution then, or I’ll find someone else who will do your job.”  
  
Jared is stunned. They will fire Aldis and Katie if he doesn’t show himself to the visitors.  
  
“What a bitch,” Katie mumbles a while later and Aldis agrees with her. “Question is: What do we do?”  
  
There’s only silence, but Jared’s heard enough. He slowly trots outside and over to his rock. He can’t bring himself to perform, to prance around, but at least he’s visible now. He’ll just pretend to sleep, maybe that way Aldis and Katie won’t get fired.  
  
That night, Chad comes to visit again. Jared is sleeping outside again, but curled up in the densest part of the underbrush. Chad isn’t alone, a couple of other birds accompany him, carrying a bag with their little feet. Chad instructs them to drop it off, then they fly away again.  
  
“Jared?” Chad chirps. “C’mon man, we haven’t really talked in ages. And I know you’re sad, but I brought you a present.”  
  
Chad is right, Jared has been a terrible friend, so with a sigh he gets up and and walks out to where Chad is sitting.  
  
“So,” Jared says and clears his throat. “How are things?”  
  
“Oh, same old, same old,” Chad says offhandedly. “Sophia is bitching again, because this hot new titmouse moved in a few trees over and she thinks I’m spending too much time showing her all the good spots for worm hunting.”  
  
Jared can’t help it, he has to laugh. “So I take it you’re currently living in Sophia’s nest.”  
  
“Ah, you know me, I don't really have a home, only several overnight-accommodations, if you know what I mean.”  
  
If Chad had eyebrows, they’d be wagging right now.  
  
“But back to the important things. I know this can’t replace Jensen, but you know…” Chad trails off, suddenly awkwardly hopping around.  
  
Jared curiously peers in the bag and sees something round, black and white. With a swish of his claws he severs the bag and out tumbles a mini-Jensen. Jared of course knows what stuffed animals are, he’s seen enough kids carry them around with them, but he’s never seen a panda.  
  
He carefully pulls it against his chest. Chad is right, it can’t replace Jensen, but for some reason it still makes Jared feel better.  
  
“You know,” Chad says after a while, “you’re really famous since you saved the little girl.”  
  
Jared nods. “Yeah, I heard. Although I don’t know how so many people could have seen the video.”  
  
Chad throws his wings up. “Dude, I have explained the internet to you like a thousand times. And now you’re everywhere. Most watched video on youtube, there’s a facebook page in your honor and #jaredthetiger was trending worldwide!”  
  
Jared stares at Chad. He has no idea what he’s talking about.  
  
Chad twitters frustratedly. “Just trust me when I say you’re famous. And fame means power. You can totally manipulate them now. If you don’t show yourself, they have to give you what you want.”  
  
Jared shakes his head. “First off, how would I even tell them and secondly, if I don’t show, the evil uber boss will fire Aldis and Katie.”  
  
“Huh. If it weren’t so evil, I’d be impressed,” Chad says. “But Jared, we have to find a way. I can’t see you like this any longer. And Jensen…”  
  
Chad breaks off as if he wasn’t allowed to speak further.  
  
“What” Jared asks in alarm. “What’s going on with Jensen? You all told me he’s okay. Tell me!” The last bit he roars so loud, it ruffles Chad’s feathers.  
  
“He doesn’t sleep all that well anymore,” Chad says quietly.  
  
“Does he stress-eat too?” Jared asks. He knows Jensen hates it when he does that, but Jared knows he wouldn’t mind a few pounds more on his panda.  
  
Chad hesitates, then he shakes his head. “He doesn’t eat all that much either.”  
  
“What?” Now Jared is concerned. His Jensen, his beautiful round Jensen who loves his bamboo, isn’t eating anymore. “Chad, you have to tell him, he has to take care of himself, okay? We’ll find a way.”  
  
“Yeah, I will.” Chad flies off, still looking doubtful.  
  
That night, Jared starts sleeping with the little stuffed panda.  
  
  
He carries the panda everywhere with him. It starts to look rather sad after a few days, the white fur gets dirty and one time Jared bites down too hard, it loses an ear, but Jared cannot let go. The visitors pick up on it and think it’s the most adorable thing ever.  
  
Katie and Aldis are worried. Katie is worried because someone apparently managed to throw something into the tiger enclosure, and Aldis… Jared finds out what Aldis thinks a few days later.  
  
Aldis comes to the service door and throws Jared one of his most favorite foods: iced steak. Jared trots over there, mini-Jensen in tow and starts licking his treat.  
  
“You know,” Aldis says in a conversational tone, “I eat lunch with Felicia. She’s the head panda keeper.”  
  
Jared’s ears twitch at that and Aldis watches him like a hawk.  
  
“She was so excited that we got another panda after we didn’t have one for years, and Jensen took to us so well. He was happy and calm and the people loved him of course. I mean, hey, who doesn’t love pandas?”  
  
Jared agrees, it’s hard to imagine anyone not loving Jensen. Still, something twitches inside of him. Jensen is Jared’s.  
  
“Anyway, since about two weeks or so, Jensen is really listless. Doesn’t eat, doesn’t play, just sits around and mopes. Much like you really.”  
  
Jared glares at Aldis. He doesn’t need to hear this.  
  
“And the mysterious fur - possibly from a tiger - she found in the enclosure? Not happening anymore. Now what am I supposed to think here, Jared?” Aldis looks at him with big eyes. “That you broke out of your cage using some tree trunk as a bridge, went to see the panda and instead of eating him, you what? Played with him?”  
  
Aldis sounds really agitated now.  
  
“This is batshit insane. But you started moping at the same time, the fur, the tree, and now you’re carrying around a fucking panda toy with you, and god knows how you got that. Am I going crazy? You gotta throw me a bone here!”  
  
Jared chuffs at Aldis’ choice of words, then he looks at him, really looks at him. It’s the unspoken law to let the humans think they’re the smart ones. That way they get fed, their homes get cleaned, if they’re sick they call a doctor. They don’t have to worry about anything, the humans take care of them, just because they are there. So the animals let them have this one thing. Let them think they’re the smart ones.  
  
But now Jared is sitting in his cage, cannot get to Jensen, so he decides to screw the rules. He reaches for the panda toy and cuddles it close, licks its head as if he were grooming it. Then he looks into the direction of Jensen's enclosure and lets out a sad huff.  
  
Aldis stares at him. “Holy fuck. Oh Jesus fucking Christ, that…”  
  
Jared walks over to the door and presses a paw against it, as if to comfort Aldis.  
  
“I always knew you were a smart cookie, but this… So what, you and the panda?”  
  
Jared shrugs his shoulders, and Aldis yelps.  
  
“This is too much. Crazy man, shouldn’t have smoked so much in college…”  
  
Jared calls after him when Aldis stumbles away, but he doesn’t come back. Great. Now what?  
  
  
  
  
Aldis is going crazy. Completely certifiable, call-the-men-in-white crazy. He’s standing in front of the service entrance to the panda building, stuffed tiger from the gift store in hand. Felicia is staring at him like he lost his mind. Which he probably has.  
  
“You’re crazy,” she says and Aldis nods. She’s probably right. “You’re completely crazy,” Felicia continues. “But Jensen… I can see that he’s hurting, but I don’t know why. Something is wrong, but Aldis you don’t really think he has an affair with Jared, do you?”  
  
“An affair?” Aldis pales. He hadn’t allowed himself to think that far, a tiger and a panda becoming friends had been enough, but a tiger and a panda falling in gay love? No way.  
  
“Look, I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, I just know that I need to find out or I’ll lose my mind.”  
  
Felicia stares at him for a bit longer, then she finally nods. “Okay. Yeah. I mean hey, what’s the harm in trying to cheer Jensen up with the umpteenth toy, right?”  
  
Since Jensen is outside, sitting in his new favorite hide-out - a giant tree stump - she can safely go into the enclosure and put the toy down. It’s not that pandas are violent per se, but you should still be careful around them, especially since Jensen is behaving so uncharacteristically.  
  
For a moment, Felicia just stands there.  
  
“Hey, Jensen,” she calls out, but the panda doesn’t react. “I brought you something. Well, Aldis did.”  
  
Jensen’s head whips around faster than Aldis thought a panda can move. Felicia looks startled.  
  
“Right,” she mutters, “that was obviously a coincidence, because you have no idea who Aldis is. Anyway, toy for you. Just, please stop moping, I can’t stand to see you like this.”  
  
With that she retreats. Jensen keeps on sitting in the tree, ears twitching until he slowly ambles out. When he reaches the little stuffed tiger, he slowly and carefully picks it up. For a moment he cradles it between his paws, then he presses it against his chest and slowly rocks back and forward, such a look of sadness on his face, Aldis wouldn’t have thought an animal could express an emotion like that. Aldis and Felicia stare in silence until Jensen goes back to his tree, tiger carefully clutched in a paw.  
  
“Okay,” Felicia says. “Okay, as of right now, I am a believer.”  
  
Aldis nods. “Question is, what do we do?”  
  
  
  
  
“Mommy, why isn’t it moving?”  
  
“It’s probably sleeping, honey.”  
  
“But I want it to move. Hey tiger! Tiiiiiiiiiiiiger!”  
  
“Justin, that’s enough. How about we go to the apes, they’re always more lively.”  
  
If Jared wasn’t so fully committed to moping he’d roll his eyes. _Apes_. As it is, he keeps lying on his rock, eyes closed, stuffed panda safely pressed against his head and tries to sleep. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been doing much else lately, and there are only so many hours he can escape into unconsciousness.  
  
Jared sighs and peers up at the sun. At least three more hours until the zoo closes.  
  
  
That evening, Aldis is weirdly quiet while he and Katie wrap things up for the night. He tells her to go ahead and Katie has some weird human ritual called date, so she leaves in a hurry.  
  
Jared is sitting in his indoor enclosure, waiting patiently while Aldis finishes with his chores. When he’s done, he opens the door from the service area to Jared’s enclosure.  
  
“I might be crazy,” Aldis says, staring at Jared intently. “Or you are. I mean really, Jared, falling in love with a panda, what were you thinking?”  
  
Jared is indignant. It’s not like it was his choice. Also, Jensen is the best thing that ever happened to him!  
  
“Anyhow,” Aldis continues, “I’ll be waiting with a gun loaded with tranqs outside, just in case you don’t make a straight beeline for Jensen. Got it?”  
  
Jared stares. Is Aldis really saying what he thinks he’s saying?  
  
Aldis steps back then, opens the door between indoors and outdoors. “Please let me be right about this.”  
  
Jared hesitates for a second, then he runs outside and uses the other door into the service area. He hasn’t been in here since his last visit from the vet, but he sees the open door and he’s outside in a flash.  
  
Aldis is standing on the the other end of the hall, mumbling ‘please’ over and over again, gun pointing at Jared.  
  
Jared gives him a wide grin and sprints off in the direction of Jensen’s enclosure. He can hear Aldis running behind him on his slow human legs, but he doesn’t care. He’ll see Jensen again, and this time, he won’t leave him.  
  
When Jared jumps into the enclosure, Jensen is asleep. For a moment Jared just watches him sleep, features tense and thinner than the last time he saw him, and the panda is clutching a little stuffed tiger to his chest.  
  
Jared’s heart pulls together and carefully he climbs into the tree stump next to Jensen.  
  
Jensen immediately wakes up and stares at Jared with big eyes. “How are you here?”  
  
Jared smiles and licks Jensen’s face. “Aldis let me out. I think he wants to help us.”  
  
In a flash, Jensen is up, cuddling Jared tightly and he gratefully sinks into three inches of thick panda fur, feeling good for the first time since he last left here.  
  
“You’re not leaving again,” Jensen says fiercely. “I don’t care about zoo laws, you are staying with me.”  
  
Jared gives him a toothy grin. “Baby, no one is getting me out of here.”  
  
  
The next morning - unsurprisingly - the zoo erupts in chaos. It’s already open and filled with visitors when Katie shows up late for the first time in her career, and discovers that Aldis isn’t present and no one thought to check on Jared. Everyone assumed he was hiding as usual, but his enclosure is empty. The panic is instant. The tiger broke out.  
  
The humans call animal control, the police, everyone. They need to evacuate.  
  
Chad recounts all of it gleefully, this is the most exciting thing to happen, _ever_.  
  
Just when the officials want to clear the space before Jensen’s enclosure, Jared shows himself. They talked this over last night, when Chad and Danneel convinced him that using his popularity and publicity would be in their best interest.  
  
The place goes quiet. Immediately, they call for Mr. Morgan. In case this goes south, Jared really hopes there are tranqs in there this time.  
  
Mr. Morgan points the gun at him, head shaking. He still doesn’t want to shoot him, but now he’s apparently worried for the panda.  
  
Jensen ambles out of his tree stump then in all his cuddly glory and hugs Jared. There are a lot of awwws and ohhhs from the spectators, especially when Jared cuddles him back and licks his face. When Mr. Morgan doesn’t lower the gun, Jensen draws Jared in tighter, protecting him with his body.  
  
Cameras flash, phones are pointed at them and Chad spies on the people, giving Jared the wings up.  
  
Afterwards it’s all a bit of a blur. There’s a lot of yelling between the humans, first it’s Aldis and Felicia against the rest, but Katie sides pretty quickly with them and then surprisingly, so does Mrs. Huffman. Apparently Chad and Danneel were right, Jared and Jensen are the newest internet sensation. Everybody loves them, the hashtag #J2love hasn’t stopped trending, every reporter wants to interview Aldis and Felicia, and there’s a petition on change.org not to separate them. Two different kickstarter projects are already collecting money for a new enclosure that will be appropriate for both of them, and the zoo has sold out on all tiger and panda merchandise.  
  
Mrs. Huffman is in heaven. The lawyer is of course in a dizzy, saying something about liability and what if anything happens to Jensen, but no one listens to him. Especially not Jared and Jensen. They have taken up lying around in Jensen’s enclosure on a patch of vegetation where they are nice and visible.  
  
Jensen had wanted to be alone, but Jared had convinced him that showing off for the people is in their best interest. Besides, now that Jared has Jensen back, he wants nothing more than show him off to the world.  
  
  
The next days are the best in Jared’s life. He has more visitors than ever and he can share his joy with Jensen. He isn’t as big on performing as Jared is, but he still wrestles around with him and cuddles. During the night they curl up in the tree stump, Jensen is an outside sleeper, just like Jared, and catch up on all the sleep they lost.  
  
Sometimes, Jensen wants to stay awake and groom and pat Jared, but Jared insists on sleeping. Jensen is still a bit too thin and worn, he definitely needs his rest. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to help, because over the following days, Jensen’s mood dims.  
  
Jared has no clue what’s going on and whenever he asks, Jensen shrugs it off. It’s baffling and when Jared is out performing for a group of kids and comes back to Jensen afterwards, his panda is turning his back to him.  
  
“Jen, what’s up?”  
  
Jensen snorts. “Nothing. Just boring old me sitting here, eating. Why don’t you go back to your friends out there?”  
  
“What?” Jared shimmies around Jensen so he can look at him. “What the hell is going on with you?”  
  
Jensen’s shoulders sag. “Nothing, I’m sorry. Just go back to having fun.”  
  
“Oh no,” Jared says decisively, “I wanna know what’s bothering you. How can I make it better?”  
  
“There isn’t, I mean you…” Jensen draws a deep breath. “It’s my fault for assuming, you did nothing wrong. I mean you told me right from the start, so… let me just get through this on my own, I’ll be okay in a few days.”  
  
“No.” Jared plants himself down on Jensen’s bamboo stash. “Talk or I’m keeping the bamboo hostage.”  
  
“Felicia will just bring me other food.”  
  
“Then I’ll confiscate that as well. I’m faster than you, you know I can do it.”  
  
Jensen looks dejectedly down on the ground. “Yeah, I know.”  
  
It’s too much to bear to see his panda like that. “Jen, _please._ ”  
  
“Well,” Jensen says slowly, fiddling with a bamboo stem in his paws, “I wasn’t sure if you ever wanted to… you know. And you don’t, so that’s fine, you know?”  
  
“No, I don’t know,” Jared says, shaking his head. Sometimes Jensen is still such a puzzle to him.  
  
The panda huffs in frustration. “Mate, Jared, if you would even want to mate.”  
  
Jared tilts his head. “Aren’t we mates?”  
  
Jensen stares at him in disbelief.  
  
“Dude,” it squeaks from the wall. The mice are standing there, staring at him in disapproval. “Mating, actual mating.”  
  
The fur on Jensen’s face fluffs up, a sure sign of his embarrassment, and he shoots the mice a death glare. “This is a private conversation,” he hisses.  
  
Danneel just shrugs her tiny shoulders. “Since you’re the new Brangelina we have an obligation to inform the animals out there. Everybody wants to know everything that’s going on with you two.”  
  
Jared is still stuck on the mating part. It hadn’t even occurred to him, because Jensen and he are both male, so they couldn’t have any cubs. But now they are there, the thoughts of him and Jensen, moving close together and holy shit how had Jared missed this? _Again?_  
  
“Out!” he roars and the mice squeak and scatter, disappearing into various creaks in the wall.  
  
Jensen shoots him a disapproving look, but right now, Jared doesn’t care. He just realized that all the times Jensen wanted to be alone with him, that he wanted to stay up late at night… Jared is such a moron!  
  
“Jen,” he says, taking a deep breath, “I love you, and of course I wanna mate with you. It just didn’t occur to me before, but of course I want to, you’re the most beautiful animal I have ever seen and I love you. Can you forgive me for being so stupid?”  
  
“Again?” the panda asks, and the black hairs in his face crinkle with laughter.  
  
“Yes,” Jared murmurs contritely. “Again. In my defense though, it’s hard to think coherent thoughts around you.”  
  
Jensen’s cheek hairs ruffle, and he shifts on his butt. His lovely, cushiony voluptuous butt. With all the fluffy white fur and the cute little tail, and…  
  
“Jared?”  
  
“Huh?” Jared looks up into Jensen’s face, slightly dazed from all the possibilities that have suddenly opened up in his mind.  
  
Jensen is smiling, but there’s also something else in his eyes. Something that burns right through Jared, making him go hot all over. He takes two steps forward until there’s no more space between them, and rubs his body all along Jensen’s. He’s done it a hundred times before, but now it has a different purpose and the effect is instant. Jared shivers. For the first time that _something_ he’d only ever had vague notions about before is right there, making his whole body thrum with anticipation. He licks Jensen’s snout one more time and rubs harder, the friction unbelievably good, until suddenly Jensen gives a tiny sound and pushes him away.  
  
“What? What’s wrong?” Jared asks.  
  
Jensen looks over his shoulder. “Maybe we should wait until later.”  
  
Crap. Jared has completely forgotten about all the humans. He shoots them a glare, before he curls himself up in Jensen’s lap, still grumbling slightly.  
  
“Later,” he agrees and Jensen pets his favorite spot right behind his ears. Later better come quickly.  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> You can find find me on tumblr [here](ashtray-thief.tumblr.com).


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